LISTing Newsletter

"LONG ISLAND
LIST Group o _ SINCLAIR TIMEX

GROUP

L.I.S.T.ing ef

I: MEETING NOTES - APRIL 29, 1984

L]

Our last meeting was very productive session.

a) Heniz H. contributed Timex's 2068 application notes and brought his Brother EP+44 Type-
writer printer, These cost between $250 and 300 and we have successfully interfaced it
with the Byte Back MD-2 Modem's RS 232 port. Not a bad deal for an almost letter quality
printer. i

b) Nazir P. demonstrated the Zeus Assembler for 2068. Not bad, but possibly lacking sone of*
the features advertized for the Spectrum. Lost in "translation" perhaps. Nazir also demoed
two excellent BASIC arcade games for the 2068, which have become the first members: of our
"Library".

c) Bob M. has taken Nazir's "Music Maestro" Program and has promised to show us some fancy
embellishments, next meeting.

d) Jeff Street attended his first meeting Sunday. Jeffdemoed a BASIC and ML program which
provides various sizes of "Big Characters" on the 2068, No mean feat, considering the com-
plexity of the display file.

e) Paul D. demoed Thomas B. Woods's Pro/File 2068 and the Game Changer interface. PRO/File is
an outstanding data handls facility. We entered several members names, etc. and tested the
lightning swift sort routines, editing features,etc. The Game Changer, reviewed in issue
2/84, was used to download ATARI games into a ZX and save them on disc for later playback.

S

, Next meeting is scheduled for June 3rd at 3:00PM. Place will be either : Day Drive or nearby?

we're starting to outgrow the "den of inquiry". Do remember to bring a blank cassette if you want a

copy of the games or music programs developed by the other members. Also, please feel encouraged to
bring some of your own software for demo. Hardware, books you've found helpful, and even catalogs are
always in demand too. We'll have 81's, 1000's and 2068's set up beforehand. We either have,or will

be writing to some of the British Software houses and clubs for help with Spectrum software.

INDEX TO ISSUE 5/84

SUBJECT PAGE
Ty Introduction - Meeting Notes 1
EES Software Review — VOXCOMP 2
IIL. Hardware - 3

l. Machine to Machine Transfers
2. A Tape Sound Conditioner A

IV. Communication 4
Modem & Compuserve
MG Hardware Review j :

Everything Interface Copyright. 1984
No portion of this publication may be
d republished without my express written C

LONG ISLAND SINCLAIR TIMEX GROUP <A consent - P.J. Donnelly

VOXCOM

SOFTWARE REVIEW

ITEM: VOXCOMP
FROM: SYBER

1325 Diller Road

Ocean Springs, Ms. 39564
FUNCTION: Vocabulary Manager for "Parrot" voice synthesizer
COST: fg. 225
SIZE: 8K/16K on Tape

LISTING/LISTABLE: No/Yes

Voxcomp is one of the first commercially available software packages pro-
duced for use with R.I.S.T.'s "Parrot" voice synthesizer. It is written

in BASIC and serves as a development tool for users who want to add speech
to their programs. Voxcomp comes with a 140 word vocabulary and has pro-
vision for creating user defined words and phoneme strings. The words and
string, once developed in Voxcomp, can then be interfaced into user programs.

Perhaps the best way to describe Voxcomp is to take you through a "typical"
session. Let us suppose that you are about to develop a BASIC game program
and would like to have your Parrot "sound-off" if certain events occur during
game play. We'll further assume that your program will run from lines 300

on in BASIC.

After LOADing VOXCOMP, you'll be greeted by a main menu board which gives you
the choice of looking at, saying or editing the phrases VOXCOMP already has

in memory. These include numbers {any number under one billion can be pro-
nounced) and almost 100 common words (e.g., AND, DOWN, WARNING, YES, NEXT) as
well as some sample phrases. To check to see if these are pronounced the way
you like them, you can list the words and have them pronounced by selecting
one-key menu entries. If you're not satisfied with either the text name of

a word or its sound you can enter an "edit" sub-menu and change what you wish.
New entries can also be made in the built-in vocabulary beginning with the
1bist phrase (of 240).

Each "word" can contain ten allophone codes and can be assigned a 10 character

English "title" which you can use to keep track of the word's meaning. If

we want our ZX/TS to say "I'm sorry", we'd find that "SORRY" is available, but
"I'M" is not. To create "I'm" we enter the "new" entry mode and key in the
allophone codes AY and M. In the edit mode we then use another one-key code
to pronounce and syntax check our entry. We should note that editing, if
required, is done by cursor control.

Since we want to use the phrase "I'm sorry" in our game, we'll need to put
it in a string which can be transferred to the game Program, along vith
RIST's driver routine. First though, we can concatenate the two words ve
have. "I'm" was our first new entry, so its now word #141. "Sorry" is
built-in and is word #108. Through the use of the new entry mode we can
enter a new code 142 and append 108 onto 141. Our next step is to put this
phrase, and any others we have made, into a string function. Again, this is
done automatically by invoking the "Reduce" mode. Here, most of Voxcomp is
deleted and only a skeleton driver program, which we enter from BASIC, and
the allophone codes (stored as a string variable) are left behind for our
game program to use. We can now enter our game program and use simple sub-
routines to call up any of the phrases we've stored as strings.

If all that sounds difficult, it is, at first. The 19 pages of documentation
and 6 pages of appendix must be kept close at hand during your early programm-
ing sessions, as the Voxcomp is fairly complicated to use. This is primarily
because of the high number of involved features it offers. If you've tried
developing phrases on the original "exclusive" program, or even my "super"
exclusive program, you'll soon appreciate the extra organization (and large

built-in vocabulary) supplied with this package.

There were only a few typos in the Voxcomp manual, and the removable refer-
ence sheets in the back make the operating task easier. On the negative side,
Voxcomp uses "abbreviated" versions of the RIST codes, supposely to make your
entry faster. This seems to make sense at first e.g., using "S" instead of
"SS", but in fact takes almost as long, as each allophone must still take up

3 spaces in your word entry. That is, "S” must be entered as 'S¥' (where $
is in blank) instead of 'SS#' as in the original RIST coding. That still looks
like the same number of keystrokes to me. I will admit that the fault is

probably more RIST's than Voxcomps, as this new coding seems better to me.

P.J. Donnelly

Lit SeT

Other complaints: the cursor editing is very slow, and of course, the "Parrot”

can only be used in FAST MODE so you loose your screen when the unit speaks.

Finally, when you enter a sub-menu (e.g., edit) the higher level c

longer vork.

commands no

ints is probably not a big problem, but some confusion exists
over command ngenclature (R is used for both "Return". and "Reduce").

I've used Voxcomp to add sound to a short little game program and fod

it does a creditable Job of creating and storing my coded phrases

phrases are called by simply assigning the number of the sub
your User String to a variable in your Program and calling a
slicing subroutine, supplied by Voxcomp.

little shorter than I would have likedand learning to use

what tedious.

Voxcomp is the "only game in town" thouck

hacking away at word generation you should

rate the Voxcomp 7 (fair to good} .--
about developing "talking" progra-
ulary, Voxcomp will add valuable~$

Ja

MOIRE THAN YOU BARGAINED FOR?

MORE

TD

eee,

That shimmering wavy pattern on your TV screen is from RFI (Radio Frequency Inter-

ference) and is called a Moire pattern.

It is caused by radio waves leaking from

your ZX/TS getting into your TV's tuner circuits, either through the power line or

the air.

Two simple ways to reduce the effect of RFI are to:

Plug your computer or TV into another outlet (on a different

“1)

You can test which circuit is which by having some-

circuit).

7

one observe lamps plugged into the various outlets while you

trip the circuit breakers one at a time.

The

-phrase of

short string
I found the documentation a

Voxcomp sone- oh
Syber's BASIC coding is also exceptionally hard to follow)
and is not documented.

-after a few hours spent
Teel comfortable with it.
1 cale of 10.

I'a

If you're serious

Use a

Separate the computer from the TV as far as possible.

2)

about 15 feet is a good length

The cable should be RC-59 or equivalent with shielded

RCA plugs on both ends.

>
2

longer coaxial (shielded) cable

of cable.

sor Just want a good pre-prepared vocab-
oftware power to your Parrot.

With the current low prices being what they are, and the Plethora of
incompatible peripherals out there, I suspect that may others may be in

my predicament,

Picture this;

@ 1984 P. Donnelly

Ji
/

MACHINE TO MACHINE TRANSFERS
EES

You have two ZX/TS machines, one hooked up to a disk drive, the other to

a non-€imex printer.
because thete addressi
the disk drive for spe

You can't connect both peripherals at the same time
ng schemes conflict. You develop your software on
ed in making backups and for crash recovery, but

would like to transfer the data to the ZX with the Printer. Normal pro-

cedure here would be to "SAVE" the Program to tape from the disk machine

and then LOAD the Program back to the printer machine for output, a process

that can require as much as 15 minutes for a 16K program.

That time could be cut in half if you could directly download from machine
A (the disk equiped system) to machine B (the printer). This isn't easy, as
the output from machine A is only at about 5 millivolts while the input
machine B is looking ‘for needs to be about 5 volts P-P, It can be done

though, and a back copy made at the same time, if you have the right type

INET
Amo
SONEL

P

Also note that the "monitor"
| a fixed output which may or m

LIST GROUP

The monitor jack will provide a boosted signal which should drive ==
second machine. Procedure is:

l. With all three machines powered up and con-
nected as shown, enter LOAD "" in machine B.

2. START the Tape recorder with record and play
pressed and a tape installed.

3. Enter SAVE "PRGMNAME" in machine A.

4. You should see the normal load and save patterns
if you alternately plug in the RF cable from
each machine into the TV-Game switch's RCA jack
input. Two TV's, if available, make the whole
procedure easier,

5. When machine A is done, you're all set. Print
out the data from machine B and you've even
got a backup copy on tape.

Note that the Winky Board II may be optional ce~
pending on your machine's output and that it should
be hooked up in the standard "LOAD" mode.

jack on most portable players Produces
ay not be suitable for loading.

"SMOOTHER" By H. Hanken
(Prototype)

37o / 6 7049

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Sine LAVES V EIME Per
SIRAS ermite Ar zorr (serr)

DEENPTES FF SUpoLy Yori Dorr

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REVISED

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GINE ware fisé Tyme * [OR sč

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BSETINE Aprova pries Fay

COMPUSERVE Ter PAGE TES
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COMPUSERVE INFORMATION SERVICE

COMMAND SUMMARY
FE FE IE GE GE GE GE GE JE IE E JE GE FE IE HE IE AE RH RHE

MOST CIS COMMANDS CAN EE
ACEREVYIATED TO UNIQUENESZ

JNE

LETTER (2 SUFFICIENT IN MOST
TASES, TERMINATE ALL COMMANDS
WITH A CARRIAGE RETURN (MARKED
<ENTER> ON SOME TERMINALS)

REY 3 OR ZENTER? TO CONTINUE

LOMPUSZERVE GEMO FAGE CIZ-142
ERIEF COMMAND SUMMARY
FEIE E E FE IE GE IE E E AE E GE GE FE AE GE GE GE GE AE IE AE GEIE EAEG GE AE

T - TOF MENU FAGE
i MENU

TEMI FAGE CIZ-4
USER INFORMATION

NHO TS COMPUSERVE?
WHAT IS YIDERTEX?

| COMMAND IMMARY WAGE TIFS
REGULAR SCRIPT LON
INFORMATION

LAST MEN FAGE. KEY DUGIT
OR M FOR FREYTIOUS MENI
M

COMPUSERVE REMI PORE IS-41

COMPUSERVE INFORMATION SERVICE

HOME SERVICES

BUSINESS FINAN IAL

COMPUT ING

FOR PROFESSIONALS

oO ad

USER INFORMATION
& INDEX

ENTER YOUR SELECTION NUMBER
OR H FOR MORE INEGAMATTON

COMPUSERVE nem PAGE Prs-1

PERSONAL COMPUTING SERVICES

NEWS
2 COMMUN TCAT TONS
S SHOR AT HOME
GROWFES AND CLUBS

LAST MENU FAGE. FEY GIGIT
OR M FOR PREY DOUS MENU

COMPUSERVE QEMI PAGE PITS-4

GROUPS AND CLUES CAN "GOO
NATIONAL" ON THE - COMPUSERVE
TNFORMATION SERVI MEMEERS
THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY OR US
AROUND THE CORNER CAN GATHER FOR

A MEETING THROUGH THE ON-LINE
COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES
THE FAGES THAT FOLLOW GIVE
DESCRIPTIONS FOR MOST OF THE

“OUI TUAT MCCTH TAP EE OCONAL

Group

LIST.

BYTE BACK MD-2 MODEM KIT
ee eR

What you see on the left is a series of "screens" which I dumped to my
printer while signed on to Compuserve's demo area. Two hours of connect
time, to that area only, are provided with Byte Back Md-2 Modem. The MD-2
has been reviewed in Syntax and other magazines and is an excellent piece
of hardware, Little has been said about the kit version, however.

The MD-2 kit costs $119.00 while the assembled and tested version is
$149.00. Unless you are a very experienced kit builder, I must advise
you to steer clear of the kit. The parts and directions are all there
but, I suspect you'll find them exquisitely difficult to follow. The doc-
umentation consists of 3 1/2 dot-matrix printed pages,a parts list, a few
sketches and, thank goodness,a schematic. Step by step directions are not
given, except for the very crucial stages.

I found several directions either wrong or missing (step H says R32 and
means R31, the sketch below step 6 is missing, ands fi ure 4 is a mystery

i
i
j
H
|
|
1
i
H

to me). The parts packages were not marked to sti! Xheir contents. Finally,

several critical connections must be made on Cheardc: side of the board,

one to an IC pin directly (no trace or hole availabie), others with wires
tacked-on to pairs of sertes resistors whose’. ‘amon leads are "flapping in
the breeze", h TE

If all I've said so far has made you decile to turn thumbs down to the MD-2,
please reserve judgement and read on. Despite the poor documentation and
somewhat nurried use of jumpers and trace cuts, once the unit is assembled
it works very well.

My MD-2 worked the first time I properly configured it in 16K (for some

reason my 2K program would not LOAD). We've also interfaced it with an EP-44

typewriter, hooked up as a printer, with excellent results. Byte Back used
some excellent IC's (the 1488,89's are hard to destroy) and has produced a
reliable hardware, software package. I give the assembled MODEM a 9, and

the kit a 7 on my l-to-l0 scale. Both would have ranked higher if more doc-

umentation and software (including source listings and/or entry points) had
been supplied.

Byte Back is at RT 3, Box 147 Brodie Road, Leesville, S.C. 29070
(803)-532-5812

CATALOGS RECEIVED

Quicksilvaé - Games from $19.95 for 2068

Thomas Woods - Data Handling for 1000

E.H. Enterprises - Battery Backup (UPS) start a $100

for 1000 & 2068

Printeé Paper - About - $2.00/roll in Large Quantities

Speedware - Gofer - Data BASE ~ T/S 1000 $35.00

Annual Dues.................$12.00
Sample copy sent upon receipt of large SASE,

Copies provided on exchange basis with other bona fide user groups,

Free copies available for pickup at . » while supplies last.

L.I.S.T.ing is published monthly by LIST (Long Island Sinclair Timex) Group
a not for profit users group.

Your reviews, Programs, comments, hardware Projects, etc., are eagerly
solicited for publication in LISTing.

Best Boy - Y7 “t Profo
TS s000 -/64 Q7 TAOS ~ F295 7

A

Copyright 1983

HARDWARE REVIEW

ITEM: REPORT GENERATOR BOARD Everything Interface
FROM: ENER-Z COMPANY :
PO BOX 635

FORT WASHINGTON, PA 19034
FEATURES: RTC, A/D, I/O PORTS, PRINTER INTERFACE
PRICE: $89.95 + PH = HiT Amst

If you could buy only one peripheral which would let your 2X/TS communicate
with the real world, Ener-Z's Report Generator just might be it. The board's
features include a real time clock, analog to digital interface, Input/Out-
put ports and a Centronics printer interface. All those features, and the
under $80 price tag, sounded like too good a buy to pass up to me, especially
since one or two to these features alone would cost more than this board from

most other vendors. Does the R.G. deliver? Let's take a look.

Physically, the R.G. board is 4" X 6" and has a cleanly designed physical
layout for its 16 IC's and assorted passive components. Construction is
professional, with few jumpers, plated through holes, and sockets for the
more critical IC's. An on-board regulator is supplied. This helps to keep
your 2X/TS's internal regulator cool. A battery holder is provided for the
real time clock (RTC) and most of the offboard tie-ins can be made using `
standard DIP (dual-in-line pin) headers. These last are easy to obtain and
inexpensive. In most uses, extra ground or @ volts lines are provided. These
fall between the active lines and should help keep down the effect of tran-
sients in your ribbon cables to the real world. The board plugs onto the
ZX/TS expansion port and a through-edge connector is provided for other add-

ons (e.g., RAMPACKS).

The heart of the F.G. board is a 2080 PIO (peripheral input/output) chip.
Through the very clever use of an intemal data bus (on the F.G. board), Mner-Z
has expanded the capabilities of this simple chip to allow it to address what,
in effect, are more than five (5) separate port configurations instead of the
conventional two (2). Two versions of R.G. are available, one hes all its
softwere on a 2716 EPON (mine is this type), the other has the driver soft-
ware in RAM. The FAM version is required if you already are making use of the

2800H to 2B00H area where the EPROM version would normally reside. 411 func-

sions on the R.G. board are made vy USF calls to the appropriate sutroutines

on the EPROM, which, in turn executes the I/O functions.

5-84

P.J. Donnelly

An OKI MSM 58321 clock chip provides the year, month, day, week; hour,
minutes and seconds for the RTC. With 3 Nicad batteries installed and
the clock setting software (supplied as a listing) entered, you need
only enter the correct time once and your ZX/TS will always know exactly
what time it is. This is especially helpful if you want your ZX/TS to

perform certain I/O functions at specified times.

Eight bit input and output ports are provided by a 7LLS 2hh buffer and
T4LS 373 latch respectively. The inputs can monitor digital signals in
the TTL range (0 or 5 volts). Real world signals can either be directly
coupled to the buffer lines (e.g., simple switches) or coupled through
conditioning circuits (e.g., relays). Outputs are also TTL compatible,
through load carrying capacity is only moderate. To drive a large fanout
or heavy load, you'd need a power emplifying/buffering stage (e.g. » triac
to run 110 volt circuits).

The analog converter section of the board uses a National ADCO809, eight
bit, eight channel port to convert real world signals in the range of 0-5
volts into their digital equivalents. As an example, a measurement of about
90 means the ADC input is seeing about 1 volt d.c. With eight channels, you
can monitor the status of 8 separate analogue devices. Typical uses here
include monitoring rotary type Joysticks (paddles), thermistors, photo-

voltaic cells, peak detector circuits and pressure transducers.

Up to this point we've seen how this board can tell what is happening off-
board (input and A/D), know when it's happening (RTC) and even perhaps do
Something about what it sees (output), Now we're at the Stage where, perhaps,
you can see how the board got its name. The unit can also generate reports
about what's going on, this time by using its final feature, a Centronics
parrallel printer interface. For this important, high speed task the PIO
ports are used directly. Eight data lines transmit ASC II character codes
generated by a lookup table in the EPROM. The EPROM effectively "overlays"
the Sinclair ROM for this operation, allowing the support of Sinclair's
LPRINT, LCOPY AND LLIST commands directly, for the printing of the standard
character set. Graphics are not directly Supported, but special USR calls

can produce a byte code which will produce other characters depending on your
printer's capabilities. The overlay of Sinclair's ROM appears to be done with
a tricky application of the ROMCS signal when the printer commands are invoked.

Report Generator

The other two lines provided by the printer interface are 3TB and ACK
(strobe and acknowledge). I used the interface with a Centronics 101
printer and Pner-Z says it works with EPSON and should work with most
other Centronic style printers. I agree, but suggest you include your
printer type in any correspondence you have with Ener-Z.

After getting my R.G. board, I put it through its paces, on and off, for
over a month. The RTC lost only a few seconds, and I hooked up switches
(Joystick actually) to the input ports. I've used the output Ports, all
eight lines, with two off-board chips to drive a 3 digit 7 Segment display.
This last lets me see measurement status without turning on my TV. The A/D
converter measured some resistance circuits I'd set up quite accurately and
I've even tied it into a thermistor and gotten a fairly good thermometer,
accurate without ampUri cation to about 2-3°F. To get the printer interface
working, you'll need to make up your own cable. You can get everything
you'll need at Radio Shack or a number of the mail order houses. Try to
keep your cable under 8-10 feet in length.

If the R.G. board Sounds pretty good up to this point, make no mistake, it
is. However, it seems that nothing is ever absolutely perfect and there are
Some negative aspects to the board. Minor turn offs which don't really
affect the boards Performance included a loose battery connector on my board,
some "afterthought" Pull up resisters tacked on to assure TTL-CMOS compati-
ablity and the lack of a case. Three more meaningful items, which might even
affect your decision to get an R.G. board, do need mentioning. First, is the
somewhat hastily Prepared documentation. While there is an excellently
documented’ source listing for the EPROM, the Supporting narrative on BASIC
applications has quite a number of typos and no page numbers. The 29 page
documentation Swings back and forth between the EPROM and RAM based USR calls,
and while a mini hex monitor for loading the RAM version (you must enter this
by hand) is Provided, the code listing is not. I'a suggest that Ener-Z
either prepare two Separate versions of the documentation or one complete and
comprehensive dual purpose version. I think the average user will be able to
use the board, but Straight BASIC programmers (i.e., who don't use ML and
have little hardware knowledge), may find they'll have to make a call or two
to Fner-Z for guidance. I found them most helpful on the Phone, myself.

The next complaint is one I have voiced before. This is that we're not told ex-
plicitly in either advertising or documentation, which port locations are used.
In the case of the R.G. board, with a little digging, the source listing

ee

documentation does indicate addresses 01,03,05 and 07. However, a quick
look at the board's partial decoding will show you that any odd numbered
port below 80H will respond to the I/O calls from EPROM. Keep this in mind
if you have other I/O mapped peripherals.

The other significant "flaw" with the R.G. board has to do more with the
"nature of the (TIMEX) beast" than with the board itself. As you probably
know, the ZX/TS cannot directly address I/O ports. In order to do so then, we
must jump to an ML (machine lanuage) I/O routine and this means using

FAST mode and consequently lots of blank screen time and "flicker". I pro-
bably wouldn't have thought this to be a significant problem if I hadn't seen
JK Audio's 310 board. While this board costs about as much as the R.G. and
has fewer features as a stand alone board (I/O ports and clock only), it uses
memory mapping to accomplish its I/O functions. This means that the JK board
can be run completely from BASIC and provide a continuous rock-steady display
while performing its I/O function. I don't feel the R.G. board should be
downrated on function because of the difference, only that users should be
aware of a need for a little more effort required to, Produce good looking
Screens with the R.G. board.

To more than make up for these little flaws, the R.G. offers its high re-
liability, numerous features, low cost and some bonus features not mentioned .

in its documentation. The board nominally has one 8 bit input and one.8-bit
ilti-

output port. You could concieveably stretch these, with some off-taardir
Plexing,to 64 each. How? Schmitt conditioning of signals fed to the A/D"

converter could give you 8 more digital input lines. Also, the printer por:
has 8 bits, this time with handshaking, There are other such combinations |
which you could implement with a few IC's to suit your particular application.

ute,

A final extra bonus is that about 180 bytes of the EPROM are not yet programmed.
Using sufficient care, and an EPROM programer, you could use this area to add

your own special USR routine to the board.

On balance, I found the R.G. board an excellent value and perhaps (next to my
$39.95 TIMEX). the most cost effective computer purchase I've made. If you

need any cth; asthe board's features, I recommend buying it. I've given this
board a hara < -vet 9-9 on my price-for-value scale. A "10" could be obtained
if the unit wel. iico offered as a kit, the RAM driven version was Provided on

tape, and documentac,’ was cleaned up a little. Ener-Z has done an out standing
Job with its first ewy into the 2X/TS peripheral market. As a suggetion for
further items, some detailed I/O applications (perhaps collected from users)

“could be provided and even hardware (e.g., temp probes, light pens, synthe-

sizers) described or made available.

LONG ISLAND SINCLAIR TIMEX

Joyedtauen yjoday